Buttery Squash Noodles

This is one of those rare recipes that I have not altered one bit. It's originally "'Buttered' Noodles" from Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious. When I first looked at the recipe I thought she was crazy. I didn't think I could ever get my family to eat it, but they did. This is one of our favorite quick meals--it's done in about the time it takes to cook the pasta! We like using short noodles like penne or shells best.

Buttery Squash Noodles

Cook and drain:
8 oz dry pasta (preferably whole grain)

Add and stir to melt:
2 T margarine

Add and mix:
1/2 c yellow squash puree
2 T grated Parmesan (fresh will make it like 20x as good, trust me)
1/4 c nonfat milk
1/4 tsp salt

Enjoy!

HealthiFood Cooking Tip; White Whole Wheat Flour

If you've taken a look at your local baking aisle in search of whole wheat flour, you may wonder what to think when you come across white whole wheat flour.

White whole wheat flour is a whole grain flour made of a lighter strain of wheat than your typical whole wheat flour. This lighter wheat looks "whiter" and has a sweeter flavor that makes it a lot more like white flour with all the benefits of whole wheat flour.

The only drawback to white whole wheat flour is it is more expensive than traditional whole wheat flours. If you are able to get it, you can easily replace all the all-purpose (or white) flour in a recipe with white whole wheat flour and your family will hardly tell the difference

HealthiFood Canned Soup Saver

Fact: I have bags of vegetable puree in my freezer. This is convenient in many ways, but especially when we're going to eat canned soup.

Ever since I learned how to make my own creamy, delicious soups from scratch, I don't really like canned soup. But when I'm too sick to cook, it's a better choice than fast food, so sometimes we do it.

Adding vegetable purees makes canned soups a lot more healthy and delicious. I usually select something that will hide well or I know my family won't mind. For example, in a beef broth soup that's already brown, they probably won't notice some spinach puree that just makes the brown slightly darker and greener. They probably won't notice carrot puree added to a chicken broth or cauliflower puree added to a creamed soup.

The more vegetable puree you can add and the more variety, the better. This will bulk your canned soup with added vitamins and fiber and reduce the sodium content per serving. Grinding in a little black pepper is usually my final finishing touch, and then we've got a super quick meal that tastes just a little more homemade.

HealthiFood Applesauce Spice Cake

This cake is a winner. I dare you to use broccoli, and I promise that no one will ever know. Feel free to be generous with your spices and to use all whole wheat flour and replace all the oil with flax, if you want/can. This recipe has been adapted from Western Family using principles from Jessica Seinfeld, but my recipe has 68% less fat, 50% less sugar, and 2 more grams of fiber per serving.

HealthiFood Applesauce Spice Cake

Combine:
1 1/2 c white flour
2 c whole wheat flour
2 c brown sugar
1/4 c ground flax seed meal
1 T baking soda
1 T cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt

In a separate bowl, mix together:
1/4 c canola oil
2 eggs
3 cups unsweetened applesauce
1 c broccoli puree

Mix wet and dry thoroughly. Pour into a greased and floured bunt pan. Bake at 300 degrees for about 90 minutes. Turn out of pan and cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar.

Chewy Almond Cookie Cake

I ran into this recipe and decided to try it because of my husband's Swedish heritage, and I'm so glad I did! It is so delicious! The original is "Swedish Visiting Cake" from Dorie Greenspan's Baking, From My Home to Yours, but it was shared with me by Dinner's on Me. However, my version saves you 60 calories and 6 grams of fat per serving and doubles the fiber.



Chewy Almond Cookie Cake

Blend together:
1 cup white sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1/4 tsp lemon juice


Cream with:
1/4 c butter or margarine

Add:
1/4 c ground flax seed meal
 2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (imitation is okay)


Then add:
1/2 c white flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour


Spread batter into a greased pie pan and sprinkle with a little extra sugar. Put the pie pan inside a cake pan or on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes until the outside is golden and crisp. It's wonderful served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

HealthiFood Cooking Tip: Choosing a Whole Wheat Bread

If you haven't already, I highly suggest changing to wheat bread. What's the difference? Up to two grams of fiber and/or protein per slice!

In contemplating the switch, it's important to choose a wheat bread that you and your family likes to eat. There are a lot of options out there. We found one that uses concentrated wheat flour and is light and chewy. Since we found a bread we like, we much prefer whole wheat bread! White bread feels flimsy and unsatisfying now. We love the hearty texture and nutty taste of whole wheat. Shop around and find a whole wheat bread that you love.

One way to start integrating into whole wheat bread is to make French toast with it--how can it be too bad under all that syrup? You could also integrate by making sandwiches half white and half whole wheat until everyone gets more used to it. And remember, once you make the switch you'll have all the benefits of whole grains!

Lack of Onions?

Have you noticed a lack of onions in my recipes? And what’s up with that?

Well, my husband won’t eat them. So I compensate with a combination of onion powder and chopped celery. The celery gives a similar texture as onion and the powder gives the flavor. If your family prefers fresh onions, feel free to use them and omit the onion powder in my recipes.

Golden Chowder

I don't know about you, but it's still snowing off and on here, so it's still soup season to me! Ever since I learned how to make my own delicious soups, I don't even like them from a can unless it's an emergency (like I'm too sick to cook or something). This is one of my favorites--colorful, creamy, and delicious. The original recipe, "Corn and Potato Chowder with Butternut Squash and Ham" from Lynda's Recipe Box, uses cubed butternut squash, but I keep puree on hand and I don't think my menfolk will eat cubed squash, so that's one of my main alterations. To be honest, other than the half and half, the original recipe is pretty healthy already. But here is how I like to make it, which also cuts each serving down by 50 calories and 4 grams of fat.

Golden Chowder

Melt in a large pot:

1 T butter or margarine

Add and roast, stirring often:

2 c frozen corn 

Add and keep stirring frequently:

1/2 c diced ham (or any other cooked meat like bacon or I've even done bologne)

2 cups diced potatoes

1 rib celery, finely chopped

2 tsp onion powder

1/8 tsp black pepper (freshly ground, if possible)

dash of paprika

Add and bring to a boil:

3 c vegetable or chicken bouillon or broth

Simmer until potatoes are very tender.

Turn heat to low and stir in:

1 c butternut squash puree

1 c frozen mixed vegetables

Mix in a separate bowl before adding to soup:

2 T whole wheat flour

1 1/2 c milk

Let soup thicken, salt it to taste, and you're done! Makes about 7 cups.

HealthiFood Hot Cocoa Bar

There's still snow on the ground where I live--April or not!

The HealthiFood hot cocoa tip is to add 2 T yam puree to 1 cup of hot cocoa (use your favorite mix or method). One trick I like to do is to buy two kinds of a really nice brand of hot chocolate: regular and fat-free. Then I mix the two for a reduced-fat hot chocolate--the best of both worlds! Using the Hot Cocoa Bar additions means you can buy your basic mix in bulk and still offer your family a variety of flavors.

You don't believe me about the yam puree, but trust me. Once you try it there's no going back! I was inspired to add the puree by Jessica Seinfeld, and 2 T per 1 cup is just how I like it. You won't believe how you can't taste the yam; it just makes your hot chocolate richer. 2 T also adds almost a gram of fiber.

At our house we like to have hot chocolate just the way we feel like it, which is where we came up with the Hot Cocoa Bar. Here are our favorite additions and variations. Keep in mind that all start with added yam puree!

Mexican Hot Chocolate: Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon

White Chocolate: Add 1 T white chocolate chips

Rich Chocolate: Add 1 T milk chocolate chips

Creamy Chocolate: Add 1 T non-dairy coffee creamer

Mint Chocolate: Add part of a candy cane or round mint hard candy. You could use any kind of hard candy for another flavor like cinnamon or butterscotch.

Vanilla Chocolate: Add 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Other ideas? Please add your favorite variation in a comment!

HealthiFood Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are everyone's favorite, right? Mine combine the basic recipe of Todd Wilbur's Mrs. Fields copycat recipe with the principles of the Sneaky Chef and Jessica Seinfeld to create a healthified perfection! Plus, my recipe saves you 82 calories and 5.6 grams of fat per cookie and adds almost a gram of fiber. And who eats just one? 

You'll notice that my recipe has a lot of ingredients, so here are a couple of notes about why. Usually I use margarine and butter interchangeably, but with these cookies I discovered that a blend yields the best texture and flavor. Why two sugars? Brown sugar adds a rich taste that helps off-set the whole wheat flour, but white sugar allows for that crispy cookie edge we all love. Where in the world do you get oat flour? Just blend up some old-fashioned oats in your blender or food processor until it's like flour. And don't skip that ingredient; that's the secret to making these whole grain cookies super delicious!

HealthiFood Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream together:
1/4 c softened butter
1/4 c softened margarine
1/4 c white bean puree
1/2 c white sugar
1 1/2 c brown sugar

Add:
1/4 c ground flax seed meal
2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla

Sift together, then add to wet ingredients:
2 c whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 c oat flour

Stir in:
1 c chocolate chips

Drop by tablespoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 11 minutes or until the edges are just barely brown. Makes about 4 dozen cookies

HealthiFood Cooking Tip: Whole Grains

Why whole grains? And, more importantly, how?

Whole grains are a healthier choice in grains. Whole grains are usually brown--brown flour, brown rice, etc. Whole grains are encouraged in a healthy diet because they are a good source of fiber and are not refined, which is more natural. Refined grains and foods are too easy for your body to digest, which means your digestive system doesn't get the healthy workout it needs and you are able to imbibe more calories with less work.

Image from Microsoft clip art.

And how do you get your family to eat them? Start small. For example, start by using whole wheat bread for French toast. It's already coated with a yummy batter and doused in syrup, so your family will probably tolerate it. You can start making your own bread and using a small percentage of wheat flour--like half a cup--and move up to several cups or all whole wheat flour per recipe gradually. Use this same gradual system with all your recipes that use flour until you are using as much whole wheat flour as your family will eat.

The same trick works with brown rice. Start with mixing a little brown rice with your white rice. Start with just a third brown and the rest white. Then gradually move up to half brown, three-quarters brown, and then all brown. Did you know that white rice has no fiber per serving? You want the benefits of brown rice in your meals! And don't forget to soak your brown rice before you cook it.

Whole grain pasta is also an option, but be sure to buy it on sale as it's more expensive. Again, start with mixing half whole-wheat spaghetti and half regular and gradually move up to as much whole grain content as your family will allow.

 In choosing whole grains to feed your family, keep in mind that oatmeal and yellow corn meal are also whole grains. If you make oatmeal or corn bread regularly, you may be doing better than you think!

You'll notice in my recipes that sometimes I use all whole wheat flour and sometimes I use just part. The proportions of whole wheat and white flour in my recipes are the amounts that my family will eat.

HealthiFood Cooking Tip: Flax Seed

Flax seeds are a great source of omega-3 fatty acid, fiber, and protein. For my recipes, you will want to by ground flax seed meal, which looks like a golden, grainy, moist flour. If you're interested, the body can't digest whole flax seeds, and some studies say that it helps reduce cholesterol in women.

Why do I use ground flax seed meal so much? It is an awesome substitute for oil, butter, shortening, etc. Flax seed contains some fat, but replacing other fats with it reduces the overall fat content while adding a lot of fiber and protein. Your flax seed meal package my try to tell you a different ratio, but I have found that a 1:1 substitution of flax seed meal for other fats generally works pretty well. The measurements in my recipes are ones that I actually use and that my family actually eats!

I know purchasing a new ingredient makes me a little skeptical, but once I started using ground flax seed meal I have never gone back! I buy at 3 lb bag at Costco that lasts me about six months while the shelf life is over 18 months.

Does it change the taste of your food? Uncooked flax seed has kind of a funny taste that you'll notice in your doughs and batters a little, but it blends in pretty well when cooks and adds a mild, nutty taste and a slightly sticky texture.

I hope this answers your questions about flax seed meal and encourages you to give it a try so you can participate in the fat-reducing and fiber-adding benefits of my heathified recipes!

HealthiFood Whole Wheat Pancakes (or Waffles)

My husband is a breakfast man. He could eat waffles every day of his life if I didn't mind. Thanks to the principles in Deceptively Delicious, his pancakes or waffles have a richer flavor and are fortified with added fiber and vitamins from whole grains and vegetables. And compared to the basic recipe my husband grew up on, HealthiFood Whole Wheat Pancakes have 1.6 less grams of fat, 1.8 more grams of fiber, and 1 more gram of protein per serving.

HealthiFood Whole Wheat Pancakes (or Waffles)

Sift together:
1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp salt 
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 T ground flax seed meal

Mix together in a separate bowl:
1 1/4 c nonfat milk soured with 1 T lemon juice
1 T canola oil (use 2 T for waffles)
1 egg
1/2 c sweet potato puree
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)

Mix wet and dry ingredient until just combined. Drop 1/4 c of batter onto greased 350 degree griddle or frying pan or cook according to waffle iron directions. Makes about 10-12 pancakes or about 8 waffles.

HealthiFood Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

Praise the heavens when frozen strawberries went on sale at the grocery store for 99 cents a bag (!) and I came up with this delicious dessert. FYI, a serving of HealthiFood Strawberry Frozen Yogurt (half this recipe) has 75% less fat and 50% more protein than a 1/2 c serving of strawberry ice cream.

HealthiFood Strawberry Frozen Yogurt


6 oz frozen unsweetened strawberries
6 oz lowfat vanilla yogurt

Blend together and enjoy!

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Image from Microsoft clip art.

The olive oil and honey in this dough make a really nice flavor. One recipe makes 2 lbs. of dough, which is enough for two 14" pizzas. I like to use one half of the dough and freeze the other for a quick pizza later. I've written the instructions below to make it by hand, but the recipe is also bread machine ready (just follow your manufacture's directions) or you could mix and knead in a stand mixer. This recipe originates from Breadman, but my alterations save you 50 calories and 1 gram of fat and add 5.5 grams of fiber and 1.5 grams of protein per serving (or quarter of a pizza).

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Dissolve together:
1 1/2 c warm water
2 tsp honey
2 tsp yeast

Add:
2 tsp salt
1 T ground flax seed meal
1 T olive oil

Add and knead until smooth and elastic:
4 c whole wheat flour

If you're in a hurry, you can use this dough for pizza right away. However, the more you let it rise (up to two times before rolling out), the softer it will be. When ready, roll out dough and top with tomato sauce, cheese, and whatever else you like. Bake on the top rack of your oven for about 20 minutes (until cheese is slightly golden) at 400 degrees.